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Charitable giving is down in 2009, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy, and nowhere is the crunch for donor dollars more visibly apparent than at Microsoft’s corporate offices. Posters for dozens of competing charities crowd bulletin boards at the software giant’s headquarters as it dedicates the month of October to its employee giving programs, which include corporate matching funds for employee donations to charity organizations. For some 501(c)(3) charities, like Ekal Vidyalaya’s Northwest Chapter, the solution to this year’s donation doldrums is to reinvent its marketing strategy. “Our traditional focus demographic has always been Indian professionals,” explains Vinod Gupta, “but we feel that we need to do more to attract businesses and non-Indian donors.” Ekal raises money to train teachers and establish single teacher schools in India’s remote tribal areas. To attract new donors, Ekal has diversified its marketing by launching a print and video campaign that is surprisingly sophisticated for an all-volunteer group. Gupta feels that given Ekal’s efficiency (it can train a new teacher and educate an entire village’s children for $365 a year and spends less than 10% of donations on overhead costs), that it will make an attractive charity to new donors. |
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Ekal is also experimenting with hands-on fundraisers like art workshops and dance workshops. “The events really set us apart,” says volunteer Ganga Narayanan. “We think this is one of the best strategies for getting new donors to make a personal connection with Ekal and to encourage their friends to participate, too.” Several philanthropy publications estimate that as many as 100,000 non-profits may go out of business due to the recession. But Vinod Gupta feels the downturn may ultimately have a positive impact on Ekal and other non-profits who can weather the downturn: “[The economy] has forced us to become more resourceful and creative, which we think will make us an even more effective organization when the economy improves.” | |
The Seattle chapter of Ekal Vidyalaya (One Teacher School project), made history among Greater Seattle Indian community by conducting a unique recipe contest dubbed as "Ekal INCREDELICIOUS 2008." The contest attracted over 300 food lovers and 40 contestants. The contest was held in Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center in Redmond on July 26th, 2008.
The contest is unique as it provided an opportunity to amateur chefs and home cooks to showcase their culinary talent. The criteria to win included taste, creativity, visual appeal and nutrition, and entries were in appetizer and dessert categories. Energy was high as contestants arrived with their largely prepared foods, and started arranging their items an hour before judges and contest visitors arrived. Frequent raffle drawings and an auction rounded out the evening.
Ekal Seattle was able to draw on three very qualified food experts to judge the event:
In addition to the first and second prizes awarded by judges in each category, contestants could also compete for a ‘popular choice’ award. This award was based on the votes given by attendees, who had an opportunity to taste the foods and vote for their favorite recipes. While the general quality of the entries was truly superior, and each entrant is a winner in some ways, formal winners of the Ekal INCREDELICIOUS 2008 contest were as follows:
Appetizer Category:
Dessert Category:
Pictures of the recipes and the event are located at - http://picasaweb.google.com/ekalevents/Incredelicious2008.
"We are truly excited and energized by the participation of contestants, judges and visitors alike," said Avantika Gupta, the spokesperson for Ekal Seattle chapter, and event MC. "While we expected broad interest in this ‘foodie’ town, the response and enthusiasm of the participants was tremendous. We were able to have fun, while raising awareness of Ekal among a broader audience, " continued Avantika. Ekal also attracted several new volunteers as part of the event planning, preparation, and execution.
Community support for the event was evident through several sponsors which included restaurants Spice Route, Mehfil, and Mysore Masala. Other sponsors were Apna Bazaar, Lisa Pennington (Real Estate Agent, Windermere), Oline Shaw (Real Estate Agent, Windermere). Sponsor donations are helping Ekal to create a recipe booklet out of the recipes submitted at the contest, and Ekal would like to thank the sponsors for their encouragement.
About Ekal and the Seattle Chapter Ekal Vidyalaya is a non-profit organization focused on promoting literacy and educating tribal children in remote regions of India in over 100,000 hard-to-reach villages. Ekal runs over 25,000 schools with over 700,000 students in remote tribal areas in every State of India. Ekal Seattle is a relatively new chapter of Ekal Vidyalaya. Ekal Seattle was formed in 2007 by several Microsoft employees and continues to attract volunteers from other Seattle-based companies. Ekal Seattle is known for conducting unique programs to promote Ekal awareness. Recent events included Ekal Pals’ Night Out 2007 (children's Art competition, themed to connect children the world over via the universal language of Art), the Ekal marathon and Ekal INCREDELICIOUS 2008 (a unique recipe contest). For more information on Ekal Vidyalaya and/or Ekal Seattle, please visit http://ekalseattle.org. Ekal Seattle is actively seeking volunteers. If interested, please contact us at volunteer@ekalseattle.org
Press Contacts: Vasavi Epari, Ekal Seattle Spokesperson, contact@ekalseattle.org.